Mass effect: operation ARK
by arc angel michael
Summary: What if we knew about the protheans sense the fiftys. What if that prompted us into a different course of action that would take a peice of humanity and thrust it in a drastically different direction. This is the result. xover w halo and others
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This fic is AU. Do not know if I mentioned it before so I will now. Not much will be changed except for time. Time is the real factor hear. The Time line for the Mass universe is altered slightly in case you hadn't notice but only by exactly 300 years. So for those of you who read your codex it all happened on the same specific dates in the same order. Just add three hundred years to the date in mass effect to get the date in this fic. Examples **2069 **July 20: Armstrong Outpost at Shackleton Crater is formally founded as the first human settlement on ****Luna****, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing. Revised date to this even would be 2369 (I understand that this may contradict things I have already written but I assure you I plan to fix that if it is the case). As far as halo goes. Other than the fact that they where not actually on earth when they reached the ark the other change is that the dawn remains intact. And the Arbiter is "dead" as far as the chief knows anyway ill shut up now and let you read**

* * *

Derelict Frigate Fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy

Deep in the far off reaches of space a battle scarred frigate glided through space. Its engines working on minimal power for the last fifty years had pushed it back to its home galaxy at last. The ship itself was large and industrial looking. An onyx gray box that appeared heavily fortified and battle worthy. Yet if one looked closely the scars of battle where evident the hull had scorch marks littering its outer shell and there where several smaller hull breaches. It had seen better days.

Inside the large vessel it was quite and dark. There was no activity to be seen. Its bunks lay empty. Its hallways where still. Not even the emergency lights remained active. The ship was a ghost Save a small pedestal. It was hear that the A.I known as Cortana stood. Coming on line to check on her charge. The only living occupant aboard the vessel. It was tragic. The entire situation was tragic. They where still so very far from there territory and at this rate she doubted that the impulse drive would carry them much further. Even at minimal power the fuel reserves where nearly depleted. She gave it another month before they would come to spaces equivalent of a dead stop. It seemed that it was finally the end. She hated herself for it. This had to be her fault.

She again replayed the events in her head. Right after she had plugged herself into the ship she should have shut the cargo bay doors. If she had done that then she might have at least been able to save the Arbiter. But the data was clear that it wouldn't have helped much. If anything he may have been crushed by the doors themselves in the process. The best case scenario he would have bled out after having his arm ripped off. She thought of other ways she could have gotten through the closing portal. Perhaps creating a slip space rupture. Again the data proved that this was too much of an unknown. It also would have been catastrophic as the drive would have been powered when the backlash from the portal hit the ship. This would have blown it to kingdom come instead of just frying the slip space drive

And she continued. Pouring over thousands of options and coming up with the same conclusions. She had done the best she could. The situation they where in was the best case scenario.

They where in all honesty very lucky. There was a very real chance that the radiation from the Halo would have killed John due to the proximity. However the ring being incomplete may have weakened the weapons effects to a localized blast. That combined with the large push the ship was given by the collapsing portal ensured there survival

Most would have found solace in that. That they had done the best that could be expected of them. To achieve the best of themselves. But as the AI reviewed her situation. It merely made her feel useless.

Because for all that she had done. He was most likely going to die. She would go rampant. And they would float on in there casket for eternity. This depression would have continued had an anomoly not appeared on the long range scanner. It was an object that while she was not familiar with she had knowledge of. It was a mass relay similar to the one that explorers from earth had used to reach what was now UNSC. Space. This was an exciting development. She may not be able to use the slip space drive but perhaps she could bring them closer to home using this. It was a long shot and involved great risk but it was there only hope. The knowledge for its use was ingrained in her memory. It had been given to her as one of the first data caches she had ever received. Being a ship AI it was invaluable knowledge in case one was ever located.

Several hours later the ship had finally come in range of the massive device. This was a transit relay and there where several destinations that the thing could send them too. Using star charts and logic she made a best guess assumption. And maneuvered the ship into position. She accelerated the ship along the side of the massive structure and the outside of the ship began to glow blue. Her last thought before entering the relay was along the lines of how similar this was to a slug being fired out of a MAC gun.

Presidium Embassies

Captain Anderson Sighed as he sat in Udina's office. He had finally traded in active duty for a desk job and he wasn't the least bit happy about it. The situation was defiantly not how he had wanted to end his career but he had enough dignity to at least act accordingly. He would rather of gotten killed in combat than end up like that drunk Harken. He was waiting on His reassignment orders. Shepard having left hours earlier that day for The Artemus Tao cluster to search for the Matriarch's daughter. He sighed hoping it would be as far away from here as possible. Udina made his skin crawl and the sooner he was away from that man the better off he would be. It was at that point that the terminal in the room began shrieking. Anderson became curious. That was a priority one message. Those could only be issued by the Council members themselves. As if summoned by his thoughts the holo terminals lit up and Anderson met the eyes of the Council themselves

"ANDERSON! We have just received word that a Dreadnought bearing a Human Insignia has just \ cleared the relay into citadel space and is headed this way. It has not responded on the Communications and is ignoring proper docking procedures. Not to mention that we have no record of this ship which is in clear violation of our previous agreements (AN I will edit this as to what the agreement is officially called. If anyone could help me out im talking about the fact that humans are only aloud a certain number of Dreadnought cruisers. In relation to the Counsel races) We demand and explanation." The Turian all but screamed in outrage. Anderson for his part had no idea what was going on and responded in kind.

"I'm as in the dark about this as you are. There was nothing told to me about a Dreadnought." He examined a holographic image of the ship closely. "And the only thing that marks it as human is the lettering. Other than that I haven't seen anything that even remotely resembling this design in any Alliance fleet." This had Anderson worried. He had next to know idea what was happening. He also lacked the clearance to know that he was telling the truth. Where the hell was Udina when you needed the man.

"That ship may bear our letters but it is of no affiliation to the Systems Alliance" Udina replied coolly as he stepped into the room. "This is probably something cooked up by the Batarians to breed distrust among us." he keyed in some thing on his terminal and the holograph of the ship in question zoomed in on the supposed Human lettering. It was a symbol that vaguely resembled that of the United Sates Eagle with the letters UNSC. Written underneath as well as the ships name. "Forward Unto Dawn"

"The only thing Close to a reference such as this is the Emblem for the United States. A small governing body on earth. Whoever set this up wasn't even able to get the proper Acronym" Udina said with an almost chuckle.

"At any rate this warship is a threat to the citadel and we will not hesitate to use lethal force if required." added The Asari Councilor It was at this point that a voice was heard over the loud speaker in the room. "Ambassador Udina, This is Alliance Tower we have just received a message from the warship. Patching it through now. " This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, Acting commander of the UNSC frigate forward Unto Dawn. We mean no harm. Repeat we mean no harm."

"Have him stand down. We will send a contingency of Asari Commandos from the Destiny Assertion to escort a leader to the counsel Chambers Provided this isn't a trap and see whats going on here." The Salarian stated. Speaking for the first time.

Udina angrily replied. "They spoke through our channels. Perhaps we were mistaken. We have a right to..."

"To nothing Ambassador. After all this is nothing but a hoax meant to make your people look bad. Meaning this is Council business. Unless theres something you had withheld." Replied the Turian smugly. "I thought as much." he responded to the silence.

"We will inform you of our findings Ambassador should it be important to you." the Asari placated before ending with. "if you will excuse us we have to prepare." With that the holograms faded.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Well I have finally found a beta. Ill let you know in future Authors notes when these can be expected to be posted. And whether or not its worth your time to re read. Polls are still open for anyone who still cares. The one that is currently up will be open till until friday while with the next one appearing for the week after. I apologize for any confusion this has caused as I was unaware that you can only have one poll at a time. Please forgive me and vote. Next few chapters will remain chief centric but Shepard is coming so bare with me. Also thinking about axing the prologue all together. Either that or its getting revised but something has got to be fixed with it. If it Gets the Axe then everything about it should be considered null in void. As I Do not feel it flows well with the rest of the story. Rest assured that doesn't mean this is going to get turned into a time travel or dimensional story. It will just allow me to pen the story behind the origins of the two factions easier and with less mess involved for all. **

It all came back slowly, like it always did. First thing that you got back was feeling. His whole body felt like it had been numb. That pins and needles prickling sensation. After that came noise. First it was muffled and sounded far away . Then it would begin to echo. Almost as if your ears had water in them. Then all at once it was clear as a bell. He heard the container lid slide open. Then opened his eyes to see it. He sat up in his cryo tube. Working the kinks out of his shoulders. He looked over to a pedestal. Fully expecting an explanation for his impromptu wake up call. When one didn't come right away he became slightly worried. "Cortana?" he asked groggily. She materialized on the pad instantly. Her bright colorful appearance hurting his eyes even through his visor. Something seemed wrong with her. She was fidgeting. Her eyes darting back and forth as if she was actually worried about something. This was not normal behavior. Especially for an A.I.

"Get up Chief, I don't have much time to explain. I have managed to get us back to civilization. But where still far from home."

The Chief stood up as ordered and tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "where are we then. If not home"

"I'll explain as much as I know as we go but right now we have to go. There are several warships surrounding us and armed personnel waiting as an escort. We are going to meet there government leaders."

"They want to meet with me. Why? What is all this about Cortana?" The chief spoke in an even tone that held only the slightest hint of confusion

"No time, Get over here and yank me. I'll explain on the way."The Spartan immediately did as commanded. Pulling a small chip from the side of the platform and inserting it into the back of his head." He was immediately assaulted with a headache as she fed him information on what was going on. Directly downloading things from her programing to his head. It gave him migraines that could last weeks and was something she reserved for dire emergencies.

The situation was nothing if that. He was a little shocked at the brash decision she made by taking the mass relay. A device that had proven untrustworthy in the past. It made him a bit worried. Cortana was nearing seven years. That was the life cycle for an A.I. He normally had high confidence in her reasoning but pulling a stunt like this made him question her abilities.

He found it amusing that she had actually been worried enough to use his own voice to prevent herself from discovery. It was amusing and a little off putting. This was another sign that her rampancy was drawing ever near. However he needed her far more than he liked to admit. Destroying her would make the situation far worse than it already was. So for now he would have to risk it until he could figure something out.

His walk to the docking bay was a silent one. He was contemplating his options. He was admittedly a tad nervous. He was outnumbered. He could not afford at this point to make enemies. That being said he was not sure how much information he could give up. Seeing as that may be his only bargaining chip. He was unsure as how to proceed. In some ways this was worse than fighting. The covenant was something he could handle. Point the gun. Pull the trigger. Repeat until nothing is left standing. This was different. Something far more sinister. This was politics.

"Chief we need to get a few things straight before you meet with these people. They are the leaders of a galactic civilization. You need to be civil with them. We are low on supplies and are ship is in need of some major time in dry dock before we can even consider trying to get home. We are going to need bargaining chips. I have a list of all non classified patents that exist on the ship. As well as a few less important ones that are. What we need is simple. Ship repairs. Offer whatever you have to to get it just get it. And..."

"Understood Cortana." The chief felt slightly annoyed with her remarks. His main purpose was to fight but he was much more than just a simple soldier. He was a spartan, once more he was there _leader._ He had been trained in more than just simple combat tactics. He knew how to negotiate. He understood what it was to have tact. Though it was true that he had not exercised those skill in a fairly long time he still was certain he knew what the hell he was doing. What right did she have to treat him like some wet behind the ears private.

In the time that she had lectured him he had reached the Hanger bay and proceeded to activate the outer door opening. The doors came open with a slow mechanical hum and the chief Gasped. There he saw something roughly the size of a covenant cruiser. The thing was massive and alien in design. Having four wings poking out resembling a cross hair. In the middle there appeared to be an oval shaped indentation the interior of which was glowing blue. That while impressive was nothing compared to the giant space station in the background. Its shape vaguely resembled the Ark. However ,where as the Ark was much larger and more terraformed, this place was like a massive city. Four elongated panels that extended for miles held large looking cityscapes connected at the center by what appeared to be a small habitation ring very similar to a Halo. It was then that he also noticed a shuttle approaching flanked by what appeared to be four military fighter aircraft. That must be the escort.

"Chief there is one more thing I forgot to mention. This place does not look kindly on the use of A.I. Its illegal in fact. So it would probably be a good idea not mentioning me at all if possible."The mans face grimaced behind the helmet. Things where getting far too complicated for the Spartans liking.

* * *

The small Asari Shuttle shook slightly as it made its way toward the unknown vessel. There was a nervous tension among the soldiers as they flew towards the unknown craft. None more so than Dilana V'Jore. She didn't have nearly as much experience as the others had in terms of combat as the rest of the group. She had gotten assigned to The Ascension more from her mothers string pulling than her combat finesse. Something she was often teased about by her fellow Commando's.

There was none of that now though. The air was tense. They where all on edge and that bothered her more than the teasing had. These were elite huntresses. They had faced the toughest things this galaxy had to throw at them and came back victorious every time. No she much preferred the teasing. She supposed it wasn't that shocking though. They where facing something far scarier than anything they had ever faced before. They faced something that could be as great and as terrible as one imagined. They faced the unknown. Even her mind, from what little she known of combat, had jumped from one possibility to another, each one more frightening and horrible than the last. The others had faced horrors far beyond what her imagination could grasp. She shuddered as she thought of the things they where thinking of.

She was brought out of her musings by the pilots gasp. She looked up from the floor in time to get an eye full of the ship they where about to land in. It was fairly large. Roughly the size of the Cruiser. It was defiantly a warship. Its appearance was not made to be pleasing to the eyes. that was for sure. It was grizzled looking. Its surface baring the scars from combat. As her eyes examined the burn marks she had to wounder what in kind of weapon could cause such large burns. Lasers were the most likely culprit but the radius was far too large and the marks where not as uniform as they would be. The ship came to the back end and began to land in what appeared to be a large hanger.

The shuttle door opened with a small hiss as the outer door slid open. Revealing a sight that while not nearly as horrible as she had imagined, was still fairly intimidating. It resembled themselves. Though it was much taller. It was covered in armor that looked more beat up than the hull of the ship. His helmet had a visor that she could make out her reflection in. Her purple skin and slanted eyes being distorted both by its color and indentation in the glass itself. The thing looked at them and nodded before approaching them. Her captain Raila Van spoke softly.

"We are your escort to the council chambers. We request that you please relinquish your arms to us for the time being. They will be returned to you once you have proven yourself to be of no threat." He seemed to accept it and pulled what appeared to be a pistol from his side. As well as an assault rifle from his back. He also handed them a large heavy looking weapon which she was not sure what to make of as she couldn't get a good look at it . He pulled multiple objects from his belt. She assumed they where grenades, The last thing he handed over was a knife that sat in a built in hilt on his other hip. It was at least a foot in length and appeared to be very sharp. It had what appeared to be blue and purple stains on it. She could only guess what kind of creatures blood it was. However there was still an odd looking device clipped to his belt that he made no move to hand over. This did not go unnoticed by the Captain.

"This is not a weapon. It is a force field generator. I would prefer to keep it." His voice was low like gravel. And sounded more like an order than a request. Captain Van looked conflicted before she finally nodded her head. A little diplomacy never hurts. She heard the woman udder in her head as she had done a thousand times before.

he man ducked into the now very cramped shuttle. It was going to defiantly be a tight fit. That was when a look of pure evil crossed her captains face.

"alright it appears that our guest has brought up an interesting problem concerning space. One of you is going to have to sit on top of him. You wont mind will you?"

She asked, leveling a look to the green armored man that made her shiver. Apparently she was more soar than she let on about him keeping the weapon. That or it could be that she wasn't too found of being ordered around either. In her musing she had not noticed everyone else adopting the same devilish smirk. "How bout you rookie. Your the smallest and should be the least burdening." She blushed and stuttered but it appeared that her captain wasn't kidding. She shied. Moving slowly towards the stranger before sitting down on top of him gingerly.

The male stiffened instantly. He must not be used to touching others. This made her think more. Was he ugly. Well that was relative. He could be handsome by there standards but still ugly to his species? What did he look like anyway? His ship had human lettering on it? Could he be human?

Her musings got the better of her once again as a throat cleared. She turned her head and noticed that she had been leaning against him and her face was rather close to his. Well it was really more his shoulders but he seemed uncomfortable all the same so she repositioned herself with a frown. This was going to be a long ride.

* * *

Outside the rim of the milky way galaxy lay a small fleet. It consisted of large oblong ships with smooth hulls of metallic gray. They where sleek and curved. Looking more like abstract art than space fairing vessels. Inside the lead ship sat a large ape like creature. He had a snarl on his face as he contemplated there latest defeat.

"The Great Journey has been stolen from us as has our homes. We will find a way back. And when we do. We will crush them and all who stand with them. We will burn there homes and glass there worlds until not even there chard skeletons remain. If it takes the rest of my days and all of my life I will. Make. Them. Pay." The large ape snarled slamming his fist into the chair in which he sat breaking the metal arm with little effort. It was at that point that a small creature in black armor began shouting excitedly in a shrill excited voice.

"Lord Brutus we have found an Ion Trail that matches the Human Vessel. Its faint but it doesn't appear they have gone into slip space. We can follow it and finally kill the Demon."

The Brute smiled. Distorting his face into something out of a child's nightmare.

It appeared the Prophets where smiling on him yet again. "Set a course. I want the Demons head!!


End file.
